Mischief Managed
by Jen-Louise
Summary: "What makes you even think for a moment that Malfoy is a Death Eater? Hm? It's time you stopped looking at this damned map, Harry James Potter, and actually focused on something important!" But once the map is hers, it's just too hard to resist.
1. The Map

**AN: Just a random one shot that I wrote in a science lesson. It's really short actually...more of a drabble than a one shot. Not much Draco/Hermione action I'm afraid...wait, not any at all, but you can always imagine what happens after the end. Or I could write an extra chapter. Anyway, this is set in their 6****th**** year, enjoy.**

_**I solemnly swear I am up to no good.**_

Hermione watched the ink shapes form on the page by the pale blue light of her wand. The other girls in the room were lying still in their beds, breathing deeply. Lavender Brown rolled over, deep in her dreams. But Hermione couldn't sleep. Getting the map had been too easy, but resisting taking a look? ...that was practically impossible.

"_You have no proof, Harry." She glared at him over the top of her book. "What makes you even think for a _moment_ that Malfoy is a Death Eater? Hm?"  
>"But 'Mione, he has been sneaking around in the middle of the night. I saw him!"<br>Hermione snapped her book shut.  
>"So were you, that doesn't mean you're plotting to kill someone, or trying to take over the castle. You're as bad as each other."<em>

_Harry rolled his eyes. "You just don't get it." He sighed and stormed towards the staircase.  
>"And where do you think you're going?" Her book fell to the ground as she stood from her window seat.<br>"To bed."  
>"But you never go to bed this early, and you've barely started the potions essay. Need I remind you, it's due tomorrow morning!"<br>"I'm going to look at the map for a bit...I can't concentrate."_

_He started to make his way briskly up the winding staircase and out of Hermione's sight when she launched herself up the stairs after him. She ran straight past him and into the dormitory. The three boys lounging on Ron's bed stopped mid card game, but she barely noticed they were there. A few moments later she was making her way back past Harry on the stairs.  
>"It's time you stopped looking at this damned map, Harry James Potter, and actually focused on something important!"<br>"Give that back!"_

"_No chance."_

The footprints were all still in the Gryffindor tower, no after curfew adventures tonight. The only movement was the pacing of Harry's footprints in his dormitory. Hermione laughed under her breath, clearly she wasn't the only one kept awake with thoughts of the map, and the power it held. It was long gone curfew, later than Hermione had thought. The only footprints seen wandering around the castle were teachers and a few prefects. She scanned the corridors, Snape was slowly making his way through the dungeon passages, where as Flitwick was scurrying along with little strides along the 7th floor corridor.

Until they stopped. Then they glided across the page...no, they were dragged across the page. And it was at that moment Hermione realised she had overlooked one important pair of footprints. Flitwick's name hovered alongside his little red footprints as they moved into a closet before falling still again. And Draco Malfoy continued down the corridor. Within what seemed like a few seconds Hermione was at the bottom of the boy's staircase, contemplating for a moment whether to get Harry. She continued out of the portrait hole, alone, hugging her dressing gown round her shivering body.

The fat lady snored, slumped against the frame of her portrait. The map shook in her unsteady hands, Draco was only around the corner. She ran to the end of the corridor, her slippers thudded softly on the stone floor, her heart beating heavily in her chest. And the door faded into the wall, hidden behind the stone, just as she reached it. Hermione beat at the wall, willing the door to reappear. _I need to find Draco. I need to find him._ She paced up and down the corridor in front of the wall, but it remained plain stone. She guessed he wanted to stay hidden, but she continued to pace up and down, thinking of as many different ways of phrasing that she wanted the door to appear, but none made any difference. The wall was cold beneath her hands as she felt for even the hint of a door, a handle or a hinge.

Sat against the wall opposite where the door should appear, Hermione ran her fingers through her bushy hair for the hundredth time. Her eyes lids started to droop. _I need to get...where Draco is..._ She fought to keep them open. _Show me...the room... _And the door started to appear, it grew out of the wall until the wood went solid and the wrought iron handle knocked against the wood of the door. Hermione scrambled to her feet, wand in hand and whispered...

_**Mischief managed.**_

**AN: Thanks for reading, any reviews? I don't bite, honest.**


	2. Are you crying?

**AN: This is the second chapter, even though this was originally a one shot. I have a habit of doing this don't I? I've changed the rating because of later chapters as well, not quite M because I can't write smut, but it will be a bit more suggestive.**

**Enjoy**

The door swung open, only Draco's platinum hair was visible in the shadows as he slipped out of the doorway into the shadows of the corridor.  
>"Granger? W-what the hell are you doing here?" He straightened up and frantically grabbed his wand from his robe pocket.<br>"I could ask you the same thing." she replied cooly, attempting to stifle a yawn. "It's after curfew, Malfoy, I should report you for this, never mind for locking a teacher in the cupboard!"

"What? How do you know about that, Granger?" He seemed panicky. In fact, he didn't seem himself at all. Ignoring his question, Hermione took a hesitant step towards him. He turned his face away, as if he were trying to sink back into the shadows.  
>"What is it? What the hell do you want?"<br>"Draco...have you been crying?" The concern in her voice even surprised her. He stood for a moment gazing blankly at her. She wasn't sure if it was the unexpected use of his first name or the question itself which made him practically speechless.

"Of course not, what does it matter to you anyway? G-get away from me, you filthy mudblood." His insults went straight through her – left her unaffected. He took an intimidating step forward, then retreated back into the darkness of the doorway. She stepped forward again, then again, and again, until she was close enough to reach out and touch him. She wiped away a warm, salty tear from his face.  
>"Why are you crying, Dra-...Malfoy?"<br>"Don't touch me, mudblood! Keep your _filthy _fingers away from me." he spat at her before stalking past her and round the far corner. She watched as he went, a thousand questions buzzing round her head, letting the door close softly and fade away behind her. The tear was still damp on Hermione's fingers as she re-entered the common room so deep in thought she didn't even take in the fat lady's moaning and scolding. She continued up the stairs to her dormitory and placed the map carefully in her drawer. There was no way Harry was getting it back now. Not yet. There was so much more she wanted to know.

"Do you want that?" Ron motioned towards Hermione's untouched toast. She shook her head.  
>"Have it."<p>

Chatter in the rest of the hall was at a high that morning as the students prepared for their last Hogsmeade trip before Christmas; however the trio sat in a thoughtful silence. Well, two thirds did anyway.  
>"So we could go to Zonk's joke shop, then Honey Dukes...then the thrww brrmmss-"<br>"Will you ever _stop_ talking with your mouth full?"  
>The trio fell back into silence as Ron chewed on Hermione's toast.<p>

Draco's space on the Slytherin table was empty Clearly, Hermione wasn't the only one who noticed as Harry's eyes kept darting towards the door at the slightest hint of movement. Hermione didn't bother looking. She knew he wouldn't be there. He had been in the owlery only ten minutes ago, or so the paper in her pocket had said.

"I'm going to get ready. See you later." Hermione stated after giving up on getting any food down her. She strode out of the hall and up countless stairs until she found an abandoned alcove on the fifth floor. Checking both ways, just to confirm she was alone, Hermione pulled the tattered piece of parchment out of her robe pocket. As the names formed next to the masses of moving feet, there was one name she scanned the parchment for first. It didn't take long to pin-point Draco, he was one of the only Slytherins in their dormitories, and the only one in his own. She could picture the way he was moving about the room. From his long, purposeful strides up and down, she guessed he was pacing intensely. She could imagine the way he'd be staring straight ahead, not taking in his surroundings, thinking things over with that furrowed brow and those pursed lips.

"Mischief managed."

She wouldn't keep watching. That's what she told herself. Everything about the map, and about Draco, was drawing her in. She shoved the parchment back in her pocket and continued on her route to Gryffindor tower. And she finally understood it. Why Harry was so drawn to watching. It was only too easy to become obsessed.

**AN: Another short chapter I know, but it's the Hogsmeade visit next along with a little bit afterwards that I'm sure you'll all enjoy ;)**


	3. Snow & Lies

**AN: Sorry for the gap, it's been a really busy week with a big family problem that I don't really want to explain and work experience. And so sorry for those of you who found this story when it was set as complete, I forgot to change it when I uploaded the second chapter and I know how frustrating an unfinished fan fic can be, so I'm really sorry about that and I'll make this chapter longer just to make up for it **

The icy wind whipped at Hermione's face as falling snowflakes clung to her clothes. Students from younger years were laughing and playing in the snow, but the trio kept trudging through the icy layers on the ground – boots hit ice, snow and frozen mud as they neared the village. Hermione saw someone through the storm of snow that looked familiar and surged forward after the quickly disappearing figure. She blocked out everything around her, from the wind raging at her, to the confused shouts from Ron and Harry behind her. She stormed past third years who shouted insults and curses at her. All she focused on was not letting the boy in front of her out of her sight. She knew who it was – who it must have been – from the wild blonde hair blowing in the wind.

Harry ran and caught up with her, leaving a confused and slightly un-fit Ron behind, and lengthened his strides to match hers.  
>"Hermione what are you doing?" He followed her intense stare and soon he was following just as intently as she was. "Malfoy." He muttered.<br>Hermione stopped striding forward. She paused in the middle of the path as Harry ran on. "Why do I even care?"  
>"Why do you care about what, 'Mione?" Ron had finally caught up with her and started leading her onwards towards the village that was rapidly disappearing behind the thick snow that was being thrown around violently in the gusts of wind.<p>

Peering through the blizzard, she couldn't see the pale blonde locks; they faded into the white of the snow. Moments later, even Harry's ebony head of hair disappeared into the icy white distance.  
>"Damn it, where did they go?" Ron looked at Hermione dumbstruck as she ran her gloved hand through her hair. "Ron, did you see where th- Harry went?" By this point neither of them could see more than a metre in front of their faces, the strong winds were turning into powerful gusts that whipped the snow up from the ground and surrounded the few remaining students outside with a white, icy blanket.<br>"Come on!" Ron shouted.

Hermione felt the warmth hit her first, like a wave. Then she saw the light of lit lanterns and heard the gentle hum of chatter from the three broomsticks. Ron sighed beside her, his coat scarf, hat and gloves already off and in his arms.  
>"That's more like it."<br>"No,Ronald! This is _not_ more like it!" she snapped at him as he walked to a table an slung his coat across the back. "Your _best friend_ is missing!"  
>"And if he has any sense then he will have got inside the nearest shop and he'll stay put."<p>

She shrugged off her coat and murmured "I hope you're right." The thought of Harry finding out more about Draco than her tugged at her mind more than the thought of Harry alone in the snow did, but she wasn't going to admit that to herself, never mind Ron. He didn't understand the underlying obsession that came with watching the boy on the map, and he never would if Hermione had anything to say about it.

Three butter beers and over an hour later, the storm had died down and Ron and Hermione were ready to grab their coats and find Harry when he burst through the door, stomped the snow off his boots and joined them at the table.  
>"So?..." Hermione looked at him hopefully.<br>"So what?"  
>"So did you catch up with Malfoy?"<br>Disappointment flickered across his face before he masked it and feigned innocence.  
>"What are you talking about? Why would I catch up with Malfoy? I just waited out the storm in Honey Dukes."<br>"But that's the other side of the village, why did you-"  
>"I was hungry and craving sweets."<p>

Hermione looked at Harry doubtfully, but Ron accepted his story in a second.  
>"Want a butter beer, mate?"<br>"Sure" He grinned at Ron as he went up to the bar to get another three butter beers.  
>Hermione still wasn't happy with Harry's answer and leaned towards him.<br>"Why won't you tell me what you saw?" she hissed at him just loud enough for him to hear her.  
>"Why won't you give me back my map?" he countered. Hermione felt a lump rise in her throat, but not as distinctly as she felt the lump in her pocket.<p>

"I still need it." The bell on the door chimed. " I mean, you still need to sort your obsession out. Following Malfoy through a blizzard, seriously?"  
>She saw him in the corner of her eye, he glanced around the rather crowded pub with his steely grey eyes before stalking out of sight round the corner.<br>"Excuse me a minute..."  
>Harry rose from his chair even quicker than Hermione did. But he was facing the other way, he couldn't know could he? He couldn't have seen Malfoy walk into the pub could he?<br>"Where are you going?"  
>"I need the toilet, sorry, I didn't realise I needed your permission. Care to escort me?"<p>

She rolled her eyes and walked as calmly as she could until she was out of sight of the boys where she then broke into a run into another section of the pub. It wasn't very big, Malfoy can't have got very far. She glanced around at the tables and the bar but he wasn't sat at any of them. In a desperate attempt to find the lone boy, she went to the toilets, her original plan. Stood between the male and female doors, she was hesitant about which door to go through. Draco had to be in the boys toilet, didn't he? But she couldn't go in there, maybe she could wait for him to come out.

The girls door swung open.  
>"Hey, Katie. Err..."<br>Katie stared blankly at her and Hermione realised how strange she must have looked stood there looking between the girl's and boy's toilets.  
>"Excuse me, I have a gift to give someone."<br>Hermione walked past her. "Yeah, sure. I was err..." She entered the toilets just as a pair of legs and feet disappeared through the small window above the sinks.

With one foot on each sink, Hermione pulled herself up and out the gap, her hips barely squeezed through.  
>"What? What are you-"<br>She was running, running down the alleys and behind the shops. She kept running, and so did the person in front of her. She was fast, but they were faster. Their cloak billowed out behind them, dragging along in the snow. Even after the cloaked figure got away, caught her out, she kept running and searching. She ran until the cold air stung her lungs with each ragged breath and her muscles burned like acid.

"'Mione?" She cursed Godric for Ron's constant interfering. "What's wrong? You've been acting weird today, are you alright?"  
>"<em>Stop<em> with these _stupid_ questions!" She started with a shout but her breath ran short. He stared at her, gormless.  
>"Err, okay then...should we walk back to school?"<p>

"You saw who?"  
>"Hermione, Professor. Hermione Granger climbed right out the window, right after she was talking to Katie."<br>"I can explain, Professor. I swear."  
>"You better be able to, Miss Granger, this is a very serious crime you were seen at, running away from even."<p>

Standing in Professor McGonagall's office, Hermione knew she needed one hell of an explanation to get out of this. How stupid could she get? She just landed herself as a lone suspect for an attempted murder, seen running from the scene and talking to the victim. She didn't need McGonagall's words to know the truth wouldn't suffice. Not this time.  
>"I saw the man responsible."<br>Nothing too risky to start off with...she could assume it was a man right? You can tell a lot about someone from their legs, she guessed it was a man. Any woman would have walked out the normal way anyway.  
>"He was around 6 feet tall...he was wearing a long black cloak, with a hood hiding his hair and his face."<p>

Lying had never been easy for Hermione. It wasn't the skill she found difficult. That, like most things Hermione attempted, had been quite easy to get the hang of. It was the guilt that tripped her up – the guilt that starts as a seed but grows and eats away at you from the inside.  
>"I was chasing him, Professor...I think it was a Death Eater."<p>

That did the trick. Two simple words. Complete lies, but the blame was completely gone from her. She could slip back into the shadows and let the Professors deal with it. Two words, definitely not worth feeling guilty over. Not even worth remembering. And as Hermione left the office and made her way back to the tower that was the last time she thought of her accusation for a whole two weeks. And for two whole weeks the map was left untouched.

**AN: Awful ending, I know. I just couldn't make it any better than that.**


	4. Guilty Feelings & Personal Spaces

**A/N: Sorry for any grammar mistakes, I'll probably have to go back over it but I didn't want to leave it any longer to update. This is the first chapter with Dramione action in it, sorry it took so long to get to this point, I just needed to set up the story line before this point.**

Back from the Christmas holidays, Hermione was relieved. She loved to see her parents, and she definitely loved Christmas, but she missed the routine of school and the air of mystery that came with the ancient castle. The winter winds were still beating at Gryffindor tower as Hermione curled up in her little window seat with a book in her lap and parchment and a quill resting on top.  
>"How have you got homework already, 'Mione? You've only been back a few hours."<br>"I'm not doing homework, Ronald. I'm listing possible suspects for the attempted murder of Dumbledore. Sorry if putting that above a game of wizard's chess doesn't make sense to you, but I'd rather get to the bottom of this before he tries it again."

"So you think it's a he too?" Harry sat down on the floor, resting his head against the seat. He sat crossed legged and chewed on a liquorice wand.  
>"Well, yeah. Their legs seemed very...masculine." After her meeting with McGonagall the boys had made her repeat every word that had been spoken. They had congratulated her on getting out of the sticky situation, then immediately asked what really happened. She, rather begrudgingly, admitted that she had only seen the man's legs, and she wasn't even certain it was a man.<br>"What's your list of suspects so far?" Harry peered over trying to catch a glimpse of her parchment and any of the names she had inked in on it's pages, however she hugged the book to her chest hiding the parchment.

"I didn't think you were interested. I thought you were too busy playing war with little stone statues." The boys grumbled and moaned but quickly lost interest. Harry was a bit harder to shake off than Ron, but Hermione knew she couldn't let Harry in on her theories. Once they were a safe distance away, playing chess again at a table, Hermione looked back at her list. It was long and messy, many names were crossed out then added back in, like Regulus Black, and different notes were next to different people's names. Some people were grouped together, like Bellatrix and Narcissa, wheras others were questionable like Peter Pettigrew. Amongst all the chaos of her list of suspects, one name was left untouched.

Draco Malfoy

It was at the top of the page in Hermione's neatest writing. It was un-questioned, un-crossed and un-noted. She had no reason behind it, except that she had been following him when he disappeared, probably into the toilets, moments before Katie was given the cursed pendant. The more Hermione thought about it the more she doubted him, but she had little evidence and so her list was useless. All she had to go by was a pair of legs and some suspicious circumstances.

Breakfast the next morning was hectic, as normal. The clatter of plates and the roar of chatter was starting to get to Hermione, who picked at her toast quietly. She started to think back to the lie. She thought she was over that, but she wasn't. The little seed of guilt was planted, and now she felt it was her job to get to the bottom of who cursed Katie. If she didn't, if she had thrown everyone off the track for nothing, then she might as well have helped him get away with it.

"Earth to Hermione, Katie's back."  
>She snapped out of her deep thoughts as Ron told her the good news. Harry was already up and out of his seat, running towards her, desperate for some news on what happened. She slowly shook her head and Harry looked disappointed; Not with Katie, but with himself. Clearly he hadn't got anywhere with the case either. He turned around sharply, as if someone had said his name. It almost looked like he was looking back at Hermione and Ron sat at the table, but he was looking past them and towards the door to the Great Hall. Hermione snapped her head round to look at the door. Malfoy stood in the middle of the doorway, staring straight back at Harry and Katie, then looking at the Slytherin table, then the Gryffindor table, then back at Harry.<p>

Before Harry could even try to decipher why Draco was acting so strange, he had turned around and ran straight back out of the room. Hermione swung herself over the bench so she was standing inbetween the tables, and Harry broke into a sprint.  
>"No."<br>He stopped as Hermione grabbed his robes.  
>"Let me deal with this. No need for you to get involved, or too...obsessed."<p>

She tried to walk calmly and cooly out of the room, but she had a surge of adrenaline just telling her to sprint it. As soon as she passed round the corner and out of sight of the many students in the hall, she broke into a run. Her shoes tapped loudly on the stone floor as she followed Malfoy. It was difficult as he had such a big head start and much longer legs, but Hermione was still quick and managed to just about track him all the way to the 3rd floor toilets. Outside the doorway she could hear water being run, then a splash as, pressumably, Draco splashed it on his face.

It was when she heard the desperate sobbing of the teenage boy that she finally turned the corner.  
>"M-malfoy?"<br>He turned to face her, tears streaming down his face, hair ruffled, and clothes in disarray. And she took a step forward.  
>"Are you-"<br>"Stop asking me if I'm okay!" He croaked out feebly. It was meant to be a bellow, to scare her away, but his throat was dry and his breath was ragged.

"You tried to kill him...didn't you?"  
>He strode towards her and she backed away until her back hit stone wall.<br>"You know nothing...you know nothing about me, about what happened. You don't know why, you wouldn't understand!" He kept walking towards her, the anger boiling on his normally passive face, and it scared her. "Nobody understands, Granger. No matter how clever, or caring, or forgiving they are, they don't understand it!" He punched the wall beside her face then placed one hand either side of her on the stone. Leaning in until his face was inches from hers and she could feel the warmth of his breath, he whispered "Why won't you leave me alone?"

She was breathless, she'd like to say from the running but this breathlessness was from something different entirely.  
>"I don't know."<br>And she started to close the gap. She moved the few inches until her lips were barely a centimetre from his.  
>"Why won't you leave me alone?" he repeated.<br>"Because I can't."  
>Her lips met his and for one blissful second his lips met hers too. Before she could even take in what was happening, Malfoy had pushed away from the wall, away from her and fled from the room. He left her alone against the stone wall, breathless and confused.<p>

**A/N: Thanks for reading, the errors in this are probably so bad you won't have made it this far. Anyway, read and review?**


	5. A Want and a Need

**A/N: I realise that this story isn't canon (obviously, Hermione and Ron aren't together and Draco won't marry Astoria) so I've changed a few of the details like how long Katie was in hospital. The time line for this will probably be all over the place but I'd rather the story flowed than have it exactly in line with the book. Anyway, here's chapter 5.**

Walking the corridors at night had never been typical of Hermione, but recently it had become a bit of a habit. The elves were more than happy to have a visitor in the night that would sit and eat food down in the kitchens, and so long as Hermione kept her light dim the portraits didn't seem to mind either. On this particular night the wind was calm and barely made a sound as Hermione made her way through the portrait of the fat lady. Having grown tired of scolding the young, insomnia induced girl, the woman merely nodded at her before she continued down the corridor. This time she took a left turn and ended up on the empty seventh floor corridor. She walked along the hallway in a daze, the movements had become such a routine for her that she almost didn't notice when the sound of another pair of footsteps joined hers. She was so distracted in her own thoughts that she almost didn't duck into an alcove before Draco Malfoy walked round the corner.

Woken from her dreamy state, Hermione started to breathe quicker. Her heart was pumping in her ears and the adrenaline coursing round her body was starting to make her shake. He turned on the spot and began to pace up and down. He turned again, his face looked even paler in the moon light, and the bags beneath his eyes looked deep and drawn out. He looked broken. He turned again on the ball of his foot and carried on pacing. Slowly, a door started forming out of the wall. Draco turned again, and walked in front of the wall, more determined this time.

"I need somewhere to hide something." he hissed. The wall started turning more into a wall again. "I need somewhere to hide something, damn it, show me my room." He sounded so desperate to get in that Hermione almost wished for the door to appear for him. "I need that room...please." He was begging for the room to appear. Begging to get inside and all Hermione could do was watch from the shadows.

He punched the wall in a moment of anger before he stormed away from it then back up. "Open up, stupid room."

Hermione bit back the urge to make a comment on how a room can't be stupid, only the person trying to use the room. He sighed, sounding defeated, and walked away. It was five minutes before Hermione felt sure enough that he was gone and left the safety of her shadowy alcove. Suddenly having hundreds of questions buzzing round her head, she took off to the library, her cloak billowing out behind her.

Two stories away from her destination, a loud voice behind her caused Hermione to freeze on the spot.

"And where do you suppose you're going, Miss Granger?" Snape snapped.

"I err.." She turned slowly on the spot. "I was extremely hungry...I was going to the kitchen, sir."

"Well, I urge you to keep your little night time hunger pangs to yourself in future. Ten points from Gryffindor for being out of bed, and a week's detention for out right lying to a professor."

"But-"

"No buts, Miss Granger. Make that twenty points and get yourself to bed before I make it a month's detention!"

Feeling defeated and still hungry, though for information not for food as she told Professor Snape, she dragged her feet along until she was back in Gryffindor tower where she curled up in the comforting safety of her window seat and watched the embers burn down in the fire place.

"First you will scrub the cauldrons over there until you can see your oily little faces in them, then you will get to work on the desks." Snape barked his orders at the students in the room. There were three of them, Malfoy, Parkinson, and Hermione, and she wasn't very happy with the arrangement. Pansy clung to Draco like a barnacle on a cliff face and directed her 'seductive' pout at him at every opportunity. Hermione picked up a cloth and started scrubbing as their wands had been taken from them as they entered the room. This was going to be one long week of detention.

All three of the students got to work on the cauldrons piled high in the corner of the room.

"I bet these cauldrons haven't been washed in years." Malfoy moaned as he scrubbed uselessly at the grime. Some of the cauldrons were so encrusted with old potion leftovers that Hermione agreed with him, although she didn't say anything, only nodded and kept scrubbing. Pansy dropped her cauldron and perched herself on the edge of a desk. Snape had left the room for the hour, and Pansy's work ethic was well known for not existing at all.

"That man needs to give us a break..." Draco muttered more to himself than either of the girls in the room.

"Oh Dracoooo," Pansy cooed "you can take a break over here with me for a while, if you want." She added a cringe inducing wink and leaned forward trying to show off her breasts the best she could. Draco ignored her, much to Hermione's amusement, and moved on to another cauldron.

"I'm pretty sure he doesn't _need_ to give us a break. It would be great if he _wanted_ to. Maybe it's about time you learnt the difference."

"What are you on about, Granger?"

She laughed. After thinking over the door's sudden refusal to appear for hours into the night, Hermione had thought of a theory just as the sun's first rays hit her window.

"Maybe you need to know the difference between something being a request and a requirement – a want and a need." She winked rather uncharacteristically and proceeded to clean the final cauldron. She could feel Draco watching her in shock and confusion and saw him walk away and slam the door behind him out of the corner of her eye. She chuckled under her breath as a doubly confused Pansy chased after him. She knew she's pay for revealing she'd seen him fail to enter the room, but for now she felt content to pile up the cauldrons and start wiping desks down. For now she'd let Draco run.

**A/N: Not much Dramione action this time, but a lot of useful information and this chapter was really needed to lead on to the next big confrontation. Please review, whatever you thought of this chapter, your feedback is really helpful. And thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, you've really motivated me to write the rest of this story :)**


	6. Accusations Part 1

Hermione woke to the sound of her alarm clock, something she rarely did these days. Her mind felt groggy from the long night's sleep, but her body felt refreshed and relieved to have had a rest for longer than four hours in a row. She was alone in the dormitory, which surprised her until she realised how slow her alarm clock was. The sun was already quite high in the sky, breaking through the clouds way above the hillsides on the horizon. Looking at the clock hanging on the wall she quickly calculated that it was 11 hours until her next detention with Malfoy. Three thoughts occured to her at that moment - lessons started in five minutes, Hermione was still in bed, and she had become completely and utterly obsessed with Draco Malfoy.

Realising just how late she was pushing it, with four minutes now to get to Charms, she leapt out of bed and into the cold morning air. Chucking on her uniform with barely time to check it was the right way round, and brushing her teeth with one hand and her hair with the other, Hermione took a total of three minutes to get ready. The common room was just as empty as the dormitory as she ran through it and out of the portrait hole.

Barely a minute after the class had settled, and just as Flitwick was about to launch into a demonstration of the skill levels needed for NEWTs, Hermione pushed open the door as silently as possible and snuck round the back and side of the class until she finally slipped in next to Ron and Harry at their desk at the front. She smiled apologetically at the professor who just looked at his number one student sternly before continuing to swish his wand and read out each spell they needed to learn.

"Where've you been?" Ron whispered as soon as Flitwick turned his back to face the black board.  
>"I slept in...have I missed much?"<br>"Not really. Requirements for NEWTs, how we need to take these next few terms seriously, the normal to be honest." Harry replied. "And you never sleep in, we were starting to worry when you didn't show up to breakfast."  
>"I'm fine, my alarm clock needs to be re-charmed. I didn't notice how slow it was getting." Their not so hushed whispers earnt them another stern look from Flitwick, and Hermione proceeded to note down the requirements written on the chalk board.<p>

"And I swear I saw the dark mark on his arm..." Suddenly drawn from her notes, Hermione's head snapped up to glare at Harry.  
>"Will you two drop it already? You're still obsessed with Malfoy after all this time?"<br>"What do you mean, after all this time?" Harry scoffed. "Of course I suspect him. Who wouldn't? He's a filthy Death Eater who'll get what he deserves."  
>"He is <em>not<em> a Death Eater!" Hermione's shrill cry was louder than she had anticipated, and the entire class turned to look at her incredulously. Even Flitwick from his towering pile of books looked at her over the rim of his spectacles. "Sorry..." She stared down at the desk, her cheeks burning red, letting her hair fall in front of her face in a half-hearted attempt to disappear.

Flitwick droned on and on, but the words just didn't sink in. Hermione's mind was working in over drive, but not on charms or spells. She was thinking over all the possibilities. What could Draco be hiding? Why was he crying in the bathroom and all those weeks ago on his way out of the room of requirement? Could he be a Death Eater? She shook the thought from her mind. For some reason she wasn't ready to accept that idea any time soon. People around her stood from their seats and slung their bags over their shoulders. It took a nudge from Ron to wake her from her thoughts and bring her back to reality. Rushing from the classroom, she kept her head down as to avoid any awkward questions from the few students still filing out of the room.

She continued to keep her eyes glued to the floor until she ran straight into a solid, toned chest and went flying backwards onto the floor.  
>"Sorry, I-" She looked up to see Malfoy looking down at her, confusion all over his face.<br>"Granger...we need to talk." Hermione was so stunned she had forgotten she was sat in a heap on the floor in the middle of a crowded corridor, until that moment, when she pulled herself to her feet, brushed down her clothes and nodded curtly. He turned and started walking towards an abandoned classroom, she was close on his heels. Once inside the dark room she closed the door behind her and turned to face him.

"What were you playing at yesterday?" _Straight to the point. _Hermione thought, but decided to play innocent. The incident in the potions detention hadn't even been that obvious - just a few well placed words that scared him off like hell was on his heels.  
>"What do you mean playing at yesterday, I wasn't playing anything."<br>"Shut up, you know full well what I mean. You saw me didn't you?"  
>"Saw you do what?" His sturdy mask was beginning to slip.<br>"You know exactly what, Mudblood, and I suggest you keep well out of my way in future, you got that?"  
>"'Course." <em>As if that was going to happen.<em>

Detention passed oh-so slowly, and this time Hermione was all alone in the desolate dungeons. Each second she spent polishing cauldrons and organising bottles, Hermione wished she was already carrying out the plan that had formed in her head just as Draco told her to keep out of his way. For once, Hermione knew how to inot/i keep out of his way.

Concealed in the darkness of the room of requirement, in an armchair left and forgotten along with thousands of other items in the massive room, Hermione watched the second hand tick round on the face of her watch. The door creaked open, and she held her wand so tight in her hand that her knuckles were white. Then she caught a glimpse of his drawn out face in the darkness and knew that he was weak, and she was strong. She felt a sudden surge of confidence and said "Sneaking around at night can't be good for your health, Draco." The look on his face was worth every second of waiting and plotting.

**A/N: Sorry for another massive long gap, but I'm not sorry for the cliff hanger. The confrontation of all confrontations coming up soon, and probably sooner than normal because it's almost summer holidays now so I'll have more time to write it. If I take more than a week I give you permission to moan at me until I get my act together. Please review, it really does motivate me whether you're moaning about the long wait or criticising the story or just saying you've enjoyed it so far. Anyway, I'll stop writing ANs now and write some proper story line stuff.**


	7. Accusations Part 2

_Concealed in the darkness of the room of requirement, in an armchair left and forgotten along with thousands of other items in the massive room, Hermione watched the second hand tick round on the face of her watch. The door creaked open, and she held her wand so tight in her hand that her knuckles were white. Then she caught a glimpse of his drawn out face in the darkness and knew that he was weak, and she was strong. She felt a sudden surge of confidence and said "Sneaking around at night can't be good for your health, Draco." The look on his face was worth every second of waiting and plotting._

"What the hell happened to keeping out of my way, Granger?" Draco snapped once he'd regained his composure. "Get out of here, now!"  
>"What if I don't <em>want<em> to get out?" Hermione walked towards him, confident and completely uncharacteristically. She walked straight up to him and whispered in his ear "What if I want to stay?" He shivered though there wasn't any wind in the forgotten room.  
>"You need to leave." Draco fought to keep his face blank of any emotion. His mask was slipping.<br>"Why?" Hermione replied quickly, firing back replies seemed to knock Malfoy off his feet, and something about him losing the act was amusing for her. Part of her wanted to keep going until he completely crumbled and broke in front of her. Part of her was out for revenge.

"It isn't safe." He stared down at her. "I'm not safe."  
>Suddenly Hermione felt out of her depth, the full danger of the situation hit her, and she realised she was alone in a room that was impossible to find with a death eater staring down at her. It was her turn to hold her mask firm.<br>"I don't believe you." She looked up at him, sticking her chin out, and stared straight back into his grey swirling eyes. He leaned closer, inch by inch until their noses were barely centimetres apart.  
>"You will."<br>She inched closer herself.  
>"Make me."<p>

He backed away so quickly, Hermione felt a slight chill as the cold air rushed in to fill the space Draco had been. He backed right up against a pile of abandoned objects and glared at her with more hatred than she had ever seen him show, but her Gryffindor heart wasn't about to give up. He was up to something. Something in this room. Something he didn't want her to see.  
>"So, what're you doing in here?" She started to walk off in the other direction and look at different objects piled high, watching Draco out of the corner of her eye.<br>"Nothing, get lost Granger."  
>"Doesn't look like nothing to me."<p>

She reached the end of a stack of objects when she saw Draco stiffen and hold his breath. She turned slowly and he relaxed, so she turned back and he almost gasped. She walked forward and he looked ready to faint.  
>"You tried to kill him...didn't you?" she whispered, not angrily but calmly, as if she wanted confirmation for something she'd accepted already.<br>"None of your bus-"  
>"<strong>You tried to kill him Malfoy, didn't you?<strong>" she turned to shout at him this time, and his pale face turned a light shade of pink. He hung his head and didn't say anything.

She wanted to leave. She'd managed it, to break him, to tear him down and uncover the mystery of the cursed necklace. She wanted to run to Dumbledore and tell him everything, but the way Draco hung his head so guiltily, and the way she now felt torn between running out the door and staying exactly where she was, made her realise she couldn't hand Draco over even if she knew where to find the headmaster this late at night. _Why?_ The question was on the tip of her tongue but she couldn't bring herself to ask that either, so she simply stepped forward until she was stood in front of Malfoy. She reached out a hand and pulled his chin up so he was looking straight at her.  
>"He's a good man, Draco. He's such a good...good man."<br>He nodded. "I know."

She nodded in return and turned back to the spot Malfoy had seemed so up tight about. A large cabinet stood in the corner. "Like the one at Borgin and Burkes..."  
>"What? Like the what?" Malfoy stormed up behind her and towered above her, his stormy grey eyes bearing into her. "You and your precious little friends have been spying on me? What did you say that was like?"<br>"N-nothing."  
>"Get out, Granger. This never happened, you hear me? Never happened!"<p>

Hermione knew she had pushed her luck and fled from the room, thankful she had remembered the way out so well. She didn't stop until she was all the way back in Gryffindor common room where Harry sat on the sofa in front of the dying flames.

"Hermione, we need to talk."

"I need the map back."  
>"B-but I'm not finished with it."<br>"What do you mean, not finished? What are you up to 'Mione? Where were you just now?"  
>Hermione's knees started to shake and she sat down on the sofa beside Harry.<br>"Nothing...I was, I..."  
>"What are you doing with the map? Why do you want it so badly?"<br>"I can't...I need him to...He almost trusts me...I can't tell you."

Harry stood on the spot and started pacing.  
>"You have to tell me, it's imyi map you're using, I always told you what I was up to."  
>"I can't Harry, I can't tell you. Not yet."<br>"Give me back my map, or tell me what you're using it for."  
>She felt weak, worn down and tired. Long nights of wandering the corridors and thinking over countless theories left her exhausted, mentally and physically.<p>

"I'm following him, Harry. Okay? Enough for you? You were right, Draco is up to something, and I need to find out what. He..." She paused, contemplating just what would happen if she let slip that Malfoy was the one trying to kill Dumbledore. "I don't think he's a death eater." _Liar._ "And I don't want you getting involved. You could mess up the progress I've made already... he's already annoyed that I have been following him, I'm pretty sure having _Saint Potter_ on his tail would scare him right off."  
>Harry sat in silence gaping at her.<br>"You believe me?"  
>"No. I partly agree with you. There's a difference."<br>Hermione yawned, almost swooning from tiredness. The revelation of who exactly was trying to kill the headmaster was completely throwing her off balance, and it didn't take long of staring into the glowing remains in the fireplace before Hermione drifted into a light, restless sleep.

Twisting the truth, Hermione knew deep down what she was doing, but she wasn't ready to admit the truth, not even to herself.

_Screams echo off the walls, and ricochet inside her ears. Flashes of light ahead draw her nearer, and she stumbles blindly towards the noise, over bodies and rubble._  
><em>"Hermione!"<em>  
><em>She barely hears the shout above the screams and spells hitting walls.<em>  
><em>"Draco?"<em>  
><em>The noise around her starts tuning out, as if she's underwater.<em>  
><em>"Draco, where are you?"<em>  
><em>"Hermione!" The voice is louder.<em>  
><em>"You don't have to...don't have to do this..."<em>

_"Wake up!" The voice is even closer now, not Draco's, but she doesn't care._  
><em>"Draco...you don't have to kill...don't..."<em>

"HERMIONE!"  
>Her eyes snapped open.<br>"Harry?"  
>He looked down at her, a confused expression on his face.<br>"Harry, where..." Looking around, the events of the night before came back to her and her vivid dream was suddenly just that...a dream.

"You don't normally talk in your sleep...do you?"  
>"No..I..."<br>She sat up and looked around wildly.  
>"Nobody else heard...well, Ron heard you mention Malfoy, then I forced him back to the dormitory."<br>Flopping back onto the sofa, Hermione rubbed her eyes with her hands.  
>"Good. Nobody else can know...Not yet anyway."<p>

**A/N: I know I told some of you it would only be a few days until I updated, sorry if I went a bit over that. That end bit was harder to write than I thought it would be and things have been busier than I expected. Anyway, I hope you like it and I hope the whole dream thing wasn't too confusing for you. Read and Review? Your feedback really helps me keep going :)**


	8. Suspicious Situations

The corridors were bursting with colour as Hermione made her way down to the Quidditch pitch. Green and silver clashed with red and gold, and Slytherins clashed with Gryffindors as they chanted for their teams and defended their houses. She kept amongst the blur of fiery reds and kept her head down watching her feet as the crowd slowly moved onwards towards the entrance hall.

"Bet you three sickles that Gryffindor smash the slithering snakes!" Hermione glanced up to see Dean and Seamus walking either side of her.  
>"I bet ye three galleons!" Seamus answered.<br>"I bet you all the galleons in Gringotts that I don't care." Hermione snapped back.

The two boys almost stopped in their tracks.  
>"Don't care?"<br>"About Quidditch?"  
>"But it's Gryffindor against Slytherin."<br>"The most anticipated game of the year!"

"There are more important things to think about than which team can fly around on broomsticks and throw around balls better." she cut in.

Conversation the rest of the way down to the pitch was limited.  
>"Why are you-"<br>"One of my best friends is captain, the other is keeper. I have to watch." Hermione stated.  
>"Ron's tryout was pretty good, wasn't it?"<br>"Yes. It was bloody_ brilliant."  
><em>"So you're not supporting either-"  
>"I'm supporting Gryffindor, I'm not thick." She cut in again.<br>"Right."

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief as she took a seat on the Gryffindor stands and pulled her binoculars from her robe pocket. The game had almost started by the time they had arrived, and the teams were just flying out of the changing rooms.

"And it's Gryffindor against Slytherin! Here come the Slytherin's now, it's Uruquat, Captain for Slytherin followed by Montague...Zabini...Goyle..." Hermione tuned out as the players flew on and took their positions. If it weren't for Harry being captain and Ron being keeper she wouldn't have bothered. The common room would be so much warmer...and the library would be empty...and the dormitory would be so quiet, she could have just stayed asleep under her thick, warm, soft-

"And the Quaffle is off, the game begins!"

There was a blur of green and red as the two teams went straight into action. They were like little dots in the distance, and Hermione brought her binoculars to her face. She zoned in on Harry first, he hovered way above the other players, watching for the snitch like a hawk. Then she darted her eyes across the pitch until she spotted Ron watching out for the quaffle. She could almost see him shaking on his broom as the Slytherin chasers raced their way towards him in a deadly quick formation. They got closer and closer until finally they shot the quaffle straight through the hoop. The students all winced in the Gryffindor stand, and the Slytherin stand erupted into cheers. Hermione kept the binoculars to her eyes and scanned across the stand at the far end of the pitch. It was adorned with silver and green, and students waved scarves, flags and banners, their cheering barely subsiding. There was Pansy Parkinson sat amongst the cheering crowds looking miserable. It's not that Pansy didn't always look miserable, but she normally managed a little smile or even a grin when Slytherin were winning. It was then that Hermione noticed that Parkinson was alone. Zabini was playing, along with Crabbe and Goyle, so why wasn't she with Malfoy?

"Another ten points to Slytherin!" The commentator announced. Hermione didn't care. She quickly looked over to where Ron and Harry were, discussing with the rest of the team how to claw back the game. They wouldn't notice, maybe she could just-  
>"'Mione, where are yeh going?"<br>Seamus.  
>"Err, I need to use the toilet...and I doubt I'm really needed here...tell Ron I said well done and good luck...?"<br>She didn't wait for a reply as she squeezed past the rest of the row of grumpy Gryffindors and down the stairs back to the ground. She walked as quickly as she could without breaking into a run back to the castle.

_"Weasley is our king, he always lets the quaffle in!"_ The chants of Slytherin supporters disappeared into the distance as the castle loomed ever nearer.  
>"Miss Granger, just the Gryffindor I was looking for." Hermione turned and cursed her luck. Snape appeared out of the shadows.<br>"Professor Snape, sir." She bowed her head out of habit.  
>"Your detention for tonight has been cancelled."<p>

"I'm sorry, what?" She shook her head as if trying to make the last sentence make sense in her mind.  
>"You will not be needed in detention tonight, or for the next week you were meant to be serving. Now get back to whatever it is you were doing. Plotting how to stop some evil plan I expect." He sneered at her before continuing towards the Quidditch pitch.<p>

The strangeness of Snape letting her off detention almost made her forget what she was doing in the castle when she suddenly heard hurried footsteps coming from the dungeons. She quickly ducked behind a coat of arms when Draco Malfoy came out of the passage to the dungeons and started going upstairs. As silently as she could, Hermione followed. She tried to keep far enough behind him to go unnoticed and followed him all the way to a fifth floor corridor.

"Still following me, Granger? I thought you'd have got bored around five minutes ago when I walked in a circle...three times." He turned to face her and she glowered profusely. "You're as bad as Pansy." He leant casually against a wall and looked at the back of his hand, feigning boredom.  
>"I'm nothing like that pug-faced bi-"<br>"Watch what you say about my friends Granger, or you may have to hear what I've got to say about yours."

He walked towards her, he moved silently as if he were actually a snake sliding along the smooth stone floor. Hermione was speechless, rooted to the spot in the middle of the empty hallway.  
>"Granger." He whispered, a few paces from her. He stepped forward. "What are you doing to me?" She shivered and started shaking nervously.<p>

"Snape knows, doesn't he?"  
>This made Draco take a step back. "What?"<br>"Snape knows what you're doing, doesn't he? And he knows I know, that's why he wants me as far away from the dungeons and from you as possible." she blurted out as quickly as she could.  
>"How do you-"<br>"How do I know? He cancelled my detention. Snape never cancels detentions; he only moves them or makes them longer."

Draco laughed, and it sounded so alien to Hermione. It sounded alien to him too, and he cut it off as suddenly as he started.  
>"You're too clever for your own good sometimes, Granger."<br>She didn't know what to say. There was nothing to say to reply to that so she stood and waited, looking down at her feet.  
>"You want to know why, don't you? You want to know exactly why, and exactly how and exactly when everything is happening, but you can't find out."<br>She looked up at him and they locked together, staring at each other. Neither wanted to give up, neither wanted to lose.  
>"You bet?"<p>

He laughed again. It was starting to grow on Hermione, the laugh that nobody ever heard.  
>"See you around Granger, when you learn how to follow people <em>subtly<em>."  
>"Surely then it will be me seeing you, Malfoy, not the other way around? You better watch out."<p>

There was a spark in Malfoy's eyes, the kind it took Hermione years to learn and to love. The kind that only appeared when they were bantering and arguing a point. The kind that made her glow inside, and snap back outside. The kind that made his entire face light up, if only for a moment.  
>"Oh I'll be watching, Granger. I always am."<p>

And he walked straight back past Hermione, and straight back down the stairs. _Always watching, eh?_ She couldn't help herself, and broke into a grin.

_Preview: Slughorn's party_

_The entire room went quiet and Ginny and Hermione stood up slowly and carefully and made their way to the main section of the room. Everyone was stood watching something, and Hermione couldn't quite see what until she moved further forward._

_"Malfoy..." she muttered under her breath. He seemed to hear her because his head snapped up from staring at the floor and his eyes looked straight onto hers. His face was as blank as always, a defensive mask, but his eyes were like fire. An icy cold fire._

**A/N: I have a feeling Draco and Hermione are getting too out of character. Let me know if you think it's going too far from canon and their characteristics, I might have to change the next chapter a bit if you do :) Anyway, let me know if you like it, and thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far.**


	9. Hide and Seek

"Hermione, are you finished in there?"  
>"Almost! Give me a second!"<br>Ginny was practically bashing down the toilet door, and it really wasn't helping Hermione concentrate.  
>"Come on, Dean and Cormac will be waiting!"<br>"Ugh, they can just go without us, can't they?"  
>"What? You've got one of the hottest guys in Gryffindor for a date, and you want him to leave?"<br>"Just give me a minute!"

Hermione finally opened the door in a white flowing top and skinny jeans that hugged her figure, her make-up was subtle but noticeably accentuated her features, but her expression wasn't excited, or even content. Hermione was worried and nervous, and it was etched across her face.  
>"Do we have to do this?"<br>"Oh come on, it's a party for all the most prestigious students of Hogwarts, you've got yourself a fit looking guy as a date, and me and you can go relax for a bit!" Ginny took her arm and started walking, and dragging, Hermione down to the common room. "It'll be fun. No war, no you-know-who, no fighting the evils of the world. Tonight you are kicking back, my friend. Tonight you can forget about those pesky Slytherins messing everything up."

She wished she was right. She wanted to forget about _those pesky Slytherins_ and enjoy herself, but with McLaggen trying to lock lips at every corner and Harry trying to squeeze more about Draco out of her, she highly doubted that was going to happen.

"Wow, Hermione, you look gorgeous."  
>"Er, thanks McLaggen."<br>"Seriously, call me Cormac." He fired one of his well known crooked grins at her that would have sent most of the girls in the school, never mind in Gryffindor, swooning.  
>But Hermione just grinned back a false grin and said "Let's go then, Cormac."<p>

Being led by the arm to the party by none other than Cormac McLaggen, almost Keeper for Gryffindor and hottest boy in their house, meant Hermione got a dozen death glares by the time they had even left the common room, and couple of wolf whistles (many from Ginny) along the way too. Then he stopped her in the corridor, not far from the centre of attention, the party.

"I'm so glad you agreed to come with me tonight..." Cormac leant in, his lips nearing Hermione's at an alarming rate.  
>"Yeah, I'm glad I came too, can't wait to get to the party." Hermione carried on walking, hoping he would get the hint.<br>"Yeah, the party will be great...but I've got a better idea." He winked at her, making her want to cringe on the spot. "If your up for it."  
>"No thanks...whatever your idea is...I really have been looking forward to this party." She looked around wildly. "Is that Ginny calling me? Well, it must be pretty important, must dash."<p>

Running into the party that was already in full swing, Hermione dodged and dashed past people on the dance floor and finally made it to a quiet corner where she could see Cormac scanning the crowd for her.  
>"Hiding from McLaggen then? Really think this is the best spot to hide? Why are you hiding anyway, it's not like he's a bad bloke." Harry stood munching on some chicken and sausage rolls beside her. He smiled and carried on eating as if he'd been stood there all along, as if he hadn't just snuck up on her and started launching questions in her face.<p>

"Yeah...he's a bit..."  
>"Clingy? I know what you mean." He finished for her.<br>"Yeah, clingy..." They stood in silence, Harry's constant chewing and the music and buzz of noise from the party were the only sounds for around five minutes.  
>"You know a few weeks ago?...When you had that dream where you were telling Malfoy he didn't have to-"<p>

"Crap, here comes McLaggen, you haven't seen me, okay?"  
>She darted away into the crowd of people just as McLaggen sauntered up to the spot where she had just been stood. People glanced at her looking around as if she were lost, but she carried on across the dance floor again dodging between people until finally-<p>

"Ooof!"  
>She bumped into someone leaving them both slightly winded.<br>"Hermione, where have you been?"  
>"Ginny, hide me, now."<p>

Sat in a cramped corner, hidden by the muggle sound system, Hermione and Ginny finally got their breath back.  
>"Who are you hiding from?"<br>Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Three guesses?"  
>"McLaggen?"<br>They laughed at the same time, before suddenly going quiet again, remembering that they were meant to be hiding.

"All he wants to do is snog me!"  
>"And you're complaining?"<br>"Ugh, wouldn't you be?"  
>"You have to admit though, he is <em>fit<em>."  
>"Ginny!" Hermione laughed quietly. "Trust you to want to snog him just because he's fit."<br>"Is there any other reason to snog a boy?"  
>They burst into laughter again, trying to keep as quiet as possible, but ended up just making each other laugh more.<p>

"It's been ages since you've laughed like that..."  
>"What?"<br>"It's been ages since you've laughed. You never laugh now."  
>"Yeah, well...things have got kind of serious."<br>"Like what? Everything with you-know-who is pretty quiet at the moment, the war has barely started. What's so serious? What's wrong?"  
>"Nothing, nothing is wrong."<br>"Yes it is, something's up. You haven't been the same recently, 'Mione! Why?"

The entire room went quiet and Ginny and Hermione stood up slowly and carefully and made their way to the main section of the room. Everyone was stood watching something, and Hermione couldn't quite see what until she moved further forward.

"Malfoy..." she muttered under her breath. He seemed to hear her because his head snapped up from staring at the floor and his eyes looked straight into hers, his face was as blank as always, a defensive mask, but his eyes were like fire. An icy cold fire.

"I found him upstairs on the 7th floor, said he was invited to the party." Filch sneered.  
>"He wasn't in-"<br>"Alright, alright! I was gate-crashing, okay?" He looked desperate, and sounded it too, but Slughorn seemed convinced.

If it weren't for the unbreakable stillness in the room and the intensity of Malfoy's stare, Hermione would have felt the urge to laugh. Draco Malfoy, _gate-crashing?  
><em>"I'll deal with the boy." Snape stated before taking Malfoy by the sleeve of his robes and pulling him out of the room. By the time the room returned to the party, the dancing, talking and eating, Hermione had slipped out into the cold air of the corridor, found a little nook in the hallway and removed the map from her jeans pocket.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good." Her shallow whisper of a breath turned into a light mist in the air. The nights were still cold and the castle corridors even colder. Two names hovered not far from hers, just around the corner. If she really focused then she could possibly make out the voices.

"She knows..."  
>"Stupid boy, what have you done? She's best friends with the <em>chosen one!<em> If anyone's going to tell someone, or even get in the way herself, then it will be her!"  
>"She won't tell."<br>"How do you know? Hm? This is Hermione Granger we're talking about. Decency is her middle name, you might as well have told Dumbledore himself!  
>"I'll just have to be careful. She won't tell anyone right now, I'll just have to keep it that way."<br>"You can't keep it that way forever, Draco. I made the unbreakable vow to help you, I won't change my mind, you hear me?"

"I won't tell anyone." Hermione walked round the corner, surprising the man and the boy in front of her.  
>"You promise?" Snape asked, he looked more confused than she had ever seen him.<br>"I promise, I won't tell anyone unless this gets out of hand, and more people get hurt. I need to know why before I jump to conclusions and make harsh judgments, but any more attempts and I will have to reconsider. You need to stop this, both of you."

Snape nodded. "Give the boy time. This will be sorted out." He then left, sweeping past her, but not before turning back and adding, "Oh, Draco, get back to the dungeons without getting caught again."

"Are you okay?" Hermione turned to Draco and asked as soon as Snape was out of ear-shot.  
>"Granger, will you stop sticking your nose in my business?"<br>"I said are you okay?"  
>"What does it matter to you?"<br>"Oh shut up, when will you learn, it _does_ matter to me, I don't know why, I don't care why, it just matters."  
>"Going soft, Mudblood?" He smirked, the hint of a smile tugging at his lips.<br>"You wish."

In the space of a few seconds, both of them stepped forward as quickly as their feet would push them forward. Hermione wrapped her arms possessively around his neck.  
>"I told you to watch out." She reached up on tip-toes and pushed her lips against his for a brief moment. "Gotcha."<br>Draco lifted her off her feet and she wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling their bodies even closer together.

"You wish."

His lips came crashing down onto hers and he ran his tongue along her bottom lip, pulling gently at her hair. She moaned into his mouth, opening hers and letting his tongue slip inside. Teeth caught at tongues and their lips molded together until they both pulled away for air, breathless. Hermione slowly pulled her legs away from his waist and her feet came back down to earth.

"See you around, Malfoy."

Surprisingly, Hermione managed to walk down the corridor and around the corner without collapsing on her wobbling knees.

"See you Granger..."

**A/N: A nice speedy update, if you like it so far please review, even if I've finished by the time your reading this it's really nice to hear what you think. So yeah, how was the kiss? Did I describe it well enough? Did I describe it too much? I've never written anything this descriptive before so yeah, let me know how it was reading it.**


	10. A Broken Promise

**A/N: I'm just going to apologise in advance, Draco isn't even in this chapter, and it might even seen Romione in some ways. This is a plot filler to be honest, and shows the relationship between Hermione and the rest of the golden trio, because they are still the golden trio and there's still a war. It may seem like Hermione is turning against Draco again but then, they are on two separate sides of a war. Anyway, next chapter will completely make up for it, it's the big finale-ish chapter. It isn't the end but it's where all the action is.**

"What are you talking about, Harry?"  
>Being dragged through the empty corridors in the early hours of the morning in the first clothes she could find and throw on by her best friend wasn't how Hermione expected her Sunday morning to progress.<br>"Tell me where we're going, RIGHT NOW!"  
>"You'll see, there's no time to waste."<br>"HARRY!" she shrieked, wrenching her arm from his tight grasp. He stopped and turned around, his features troubled by a sleepless night. "Harry, what's happened?"  
>"It's Ron...the hospital wing."<p>

In a blind panic Hermione started to run. Ron was hurt. It was something serious. Other students, although there were very few out of bed, stared as the girl with the wild hair and an even wilder look in her eye sprinted through the castle followed by Harry Potter, the chosen one.  
>"Hermione! Wait up!"<br>She didn't wait. She couldn't. Her mind was working over-time with thoughts of Ron lying in a hospital bed, helpless. She didn't even slow her pace until she had reached the large double doors leading to the hospital wing. She took a deep breath and pushed the doors open gently. Inside the room it was calm, almost silent, as she walked in a few paces. She saw Ron almost instantly and it felt like all the breath had left her body. He was lying in a bed at the far end of the room, and even from this distance she could see how his pale skin almost blended with the white of the blanket placed over him.

"Oh, Ron." she whispered, walking slowly towards his bed. When she was stood over him, watching him sleep through a restless dream haunted by what looked like a fever and a cold sweat, she felt too weak and dizzy to go any further and sat in the chair beside his bed. She barely noticed Harry stood behind her, or the hand he placed lightly on her shoulder. She placed her hand tentatively over Ron's and sighed.  
>"He was poisoned..."<br>"What?" she could barely believe Ron was lying here in this state, never mind that someone could have done this on purpose. "It wasn't meant for him. I think it was meant for-"

The doors opened again, gaining the attention of both Harry and Hermione.  
>"Miss Granger, Mr Potter." Dumbledore nodded at them in greeting, followed by Mcgonagall and Slughorn.<br>"Should they leave, Albus? Surely they have been through enough." McGonagall spoke, glancing worriedly at the children.  
>"No, I think they would like to find out why this has happened as much as we do."<br>"Very well then. Mr Potter, if you could tell us what happened last night that lead to...these events." She seemed to be taking what happened hard too.

"I-err- I got back to the dormitory at around 11..."  
>"But Harry, curfew is 10?" Hermione interupted.<br>"I was...I was in the common room before...anyway, I went upstairs to the dormitory when Ron told me he was in love. I thought he meant Lavender, sir, but then-"  
>Hermione started to tune out and turned back to Ron. She squeezed his hand but there was no response.<em> Please be better soon...<em> she pleaded silently, looking down at his empty face.  
>"Then we had some mead...Slughorn gave us a tiny bit each in, err, celebration."<br>Slughorn looked down at the floor sheepishly.  
>"That's when he started to...to froth at the mouth and...he was on the floor. It looked like he was having some kind of fit..."<p>

Hermione couldn't take it and blocked out the rest of the explanation. She was snapped back to reality by a high pitched squeal.  
>"Oh won-won, my poor ickle won-won, what did they do to him?"<br>The sound of tottering footsteps clicked on the polished floor and Hermione looked up to see a very flushed Lavender Brown stood at the end of the bed staring at Ron.  
>"What's ishei doing here?"  
>"I could ask the same about you."<br>"I happen to be his igirl friend/i."  
>"Well, I happen to be his...friend." Hermione replied hesitantly. What was she to Ron now? Since her obsession with Malfoy and his obsession with snogging his girlfriend 247, they had barely spoken.

"Her..." Ron started to stir and Hermione and Lavender both stared expectantly at him.  
>"Ron...can you hear me?"<br>"Won-won! Are. You. Awake?"  
>"Her-my-knee." he slurred.<br>"What did he just say?" Lavender asked her.  
>"I don't know."<br>"Her-my-knee?" he muttered louder this time.

It looked like Lavender had been slapped across the face, and Hermione turned to her with a slightly smug smile playing on her lips. Suddenly, she let out a sob and fled from the room.  
>"So...so it was meant for you, Albus?"<br>Hermione's attention was suddenly snapped back to the conversation the adults were having a few metres away.  
>"Seems so. It was another rather feeble attempt, but dangerous none the less."<p>

Hermione felt like she was spinning, Ron had almost died because of Malfoy...but she'd promised...no, she's promised so long as nobody else got hurt. But someone had been hurt, and if she didn't tell someone right now, someone else could get hurt too. By the time she had arranged her thoughts to make any sense the professors were leaving the room. There was no time to think it over, she ran straight from the room and followed Dumbledore as fast as she could down the stairs.  
>"Professor Dumbledore, sir!" She kept running. "There's something I need to tell you!"<p>

She got to the bottom of the stairs and he was stood a little way off, waiting for her.  
>"Sir, I need to tel you something about the attacks."<br>She clutched her side and paused to get her breath back.  
>"Of course. Come to my office."<br>She nodded, unable to reply in any other way. Following the wizard along the corridor towards his office, she caught sight of Draco, staring at her wide eyed and pale as his own hair. She looked straight at the ground. He knew. He knew and she hadn't even told Dumbledore yet. Risking another glance at him, she saw he was still staring at her, like a deer caught in the headlights, and in that moment Hermione felt like turning back. Like leaving Dumbledore to wonder what it was she wanted to tell him. Then she thought back to Ron lying in the hospital wing, he'd almost died. She couldn't let that happen again so she carried on after the rapidly disappearing headmaster and caught up with him in time to jump onto the rotating staircase that lead to his office.

"So, what is it you wished to tell me, Miss Granger?"  
>"It's...well I...I know who's trying to kill you." she finally blurted out after piecing the sentence together in her head.<br>"Ah, I see. And who may that be?" He leaned forward, placing his elbows on the desk sat between him and Hermione on the other side.  
>"Draco Malfoy, sir."<br>"And who told you this?"  
>"He did, sir. Draco told me he was trying to kill you, he gave Katie the cursed necklace. He gave Slughorn the poisoned mead."<br>He leant back in his chair and clasped his hands together very calmly. "I see."

"Did you not hear me, sir? I said Draco Malfoy...Malfoy is trying to kill you."  
>"I know." He held out a bowl to her. "Mint Humbug?"<br>In her confusion she ended up reaching out and taking one.  
>"I'm sorry, sir, what do you mean you know?"<br>He took a humbug himself and started to suck on it. "I know that Mister Malfoy is attempting to take my life, and rather feebly too don't you think?"  
>"Well, yes, but...why don't you tell the ministry? Why don't you kick him out of school? He's an attempted murderer...I don't understand."<br>"His heart is not in it. If it were I would have been dead already. Why did he tell you about it all those weeks ago, do you think? Why does he continue to try to kill me from afar, why is it a smart boy like himself continues to fail when I am a clear target so often?"

"You think he can't do it?"  
>"Ah, I think he won't do it. He has the ability, but not the will power."<br>He stood up and walked over to the other side of the desk and Hermione stood up and looked up at him.  
>"He is savable yet, Miss Granger. Don't ever lose sight of that."<p>

**A/N: I hope all that Romione didn't stop any of you from liking the story, I'll have to make up for it in the next chapter and make the Dramione snog scene extra-long ;) Let me know if you like the story so far, etc, etc, and any suggestions for how to improve this chapter, or any of the chapters so far, are welcome too.**


	11. No Place like Home

**A/N: Woah, it must have been over a month since my last update, so sorry guys. I wouldn't be surprised if most of you forgot what this story is even about, I'm awful at updating stuff. This was originally going to be joined with next chapter to make a single chapter but the next half was taking me so long I decided to split them.**

The night was warm and still as Hermione lay awake staring at the ceiling in the dormitory. June had crept up on them and although they'd done OWLs the year before, and NEWTs weren't until the year after, the summer weeks had flown by leaving barely any time to relax. She sat up, considering taking another quick look through her charms theory book, but when she opened the book the words scrambled together on the page and floated meaninglessly around her head. The moonlight filtered into the room through gaps in the curtains and threw beams across the sleeping figures. Hermione gave up and resorted to her habit of a late night stroll. The map in her tight grip showed the 7th floor almost abandoned. She scanned the rest of the tattered pages, another habit she found hard to shake, but no names caught her attention.

She knew exactly where to go.

The door slid open a crack in silence and she slipped through the small gap. Recently the room had become a comforting hide-away. Even when Draco wasn't here, sitting in the forgotten armchair reading or wandering around the room strewn with lost and forgotten items was treasured alone time that Hermione had begun to depend on.

_"You know, it's just, they have each other." she explained one night, curled up on the armchair as Draco worked. "Harry has Ginny, Ron has Lavender, and even when they're on their petty break-ups he has his family and his quidditch team. What have I got? Books and a secret room with a secret...friend."_

_Draco looked up from the old textbook he was leafing through, a look of awe passed across his features before he regained his unreadable mask. "Yeah...I see what you mean."_

_"They never really notice when I'm gone, which is a good job too seeing as I'm here practically all the time." she continued with her explanation, her monologue on what was going on with her and her friends, a decent distraction for the boy making all the wrong decisions._

Despite an aching want to be left alone, seeing that she was not alone did not dis-hearten the Gryffindor. In fact, she counted being with Draco as alone enough. If she wanted quiet she got quiet, as long as there wasn't a fight going on, and if she wanted someone to vent to then so long as Draco could stand listening to more talking she would vent. There was always a bit of a balance. They could rage and shout at each other, or sit in each other's silent company and be just as at ease.

He was the best, and yet the least likely, company for the Gryffindor princess. Draco sat hunched over running his fingers through his hair. It stuck up at random angles, Hermione noticed, as though he'd been running his fingers trough it for a while. She also, rather begrudgingly, noted how she liked the way it looked ruffled up and messy, as if he had just woken from a long deep sleep. With all the calculating looks she was sending at Draco's hair she barely had time to notice the calculating looks being directed back at her.  
>"Can I help?" His voice was rough from dis-use but the malice behind it was still clear.<br>"Oh, I don't know, can you?" She sat herself down next to him with a playful wink. Their banter tended to bring out her witty and rather flirtatious side, sometimes she even surprised herself.

He wasn't impressed, or he just wasn't in the mood, and turned back to staring at the wall opposite them.  
>"What's up? Drakey run out of things to say?" she mocked at him, fighting to get the slightest reaction from his stone cold face.<br>"Maybe I have." he replied flatly, his eyes never leaving the wall. The quiet defeat wasn't the reaction she was after, and a snappy reply hung on the tip of her tongue. In the silence that followed Hermione realised just how drawn out and pale he had become. How scarily dark his eyes were. How his lips formed a thin line closer to a scowl than a smirk and looked as if they were made that way, carved frome stone. And she realised just how beautifully weak he was. He was broken, and she suddenly didn't know whether to reach out for him or sit here and let him bleed. She reached out a hand towards him but he flinched away so she sat back.

Continuing to watch his face, he didn't show any sign that he appreciated the company, but he showed no sign that he was against it either and so she stayed.  
>"What's wrong?" The seconds had drifted into minutes, and the minutes had drifted by uncounted. It felt like they had frozen there, and Malfoy wasn't about to break it.<p>

He shrugged.

His continued ignorance was clawing at her patience. _What could make him be like this?_ Hermione's mind started to whir with solutions, problems, situations, but nothing clicked. He was never subdued like this. He never went down without a fight, so what fight had he lost? "Tell me. I have a right to know."  
>He merely looked down at the floor.<br>"You better tell me this instant what has got you so pissed! Are you listening to me? Are you _listening_?"

He looked at his hands. This puzzled her, it confused her more than anything and nothing confused Hermione Granger. This boy was a puzzle, and she wasn't about to give up on him.  
>"Fight back, damn it!" She launched herself to her knees and pushed him. She threw her fists at his chest. "Fight back, WHY WON'T YOU FIGHT IT?"<br>"How _dare_ you?" he whispered.

She almost grinned at her victory, he was fighting back. There was a light in his eyes that hadn't been there only moments ago, but her fear started bubbling under the surface.  
>"You have no idea." His voice raised into a shout and he stood with the most speed and grace Hermione had seen. He was a good few inches taller than her, but even if he weren't, his Quidditch trained muscles showed through the translucent school shirt that clung to his frame and there was a new darkness to his eyes that made Hermione wary.<p>

"You don't know what I've done, what I'll do. I'm dangerous."  
>And for a split second she believed him.<br>"You're a good man." she whispered, and looked up into his eyes with earnest.  
>"No! No, I'm not! You don't understand, you don't even know me!" he fumed and raged, moving towards Hermione's petite form. "What would you know about the dark arts? Raised by Muggles, the Gryffindork, always got your nose in a book, but you know bnothingb of the real world!"

"You don't know me! I've been fighting the dark arts since I was eleven!"  
>"I've been part of the dark arts since the day I was born!"<p>

They were left face to face gasping for air.  
>"We-we don't have to fight...oh look, we could read or try fixing that old thing again."<br>The vanishing cabinet stood in the corner, a pretty reminder of what brought them both to the room and kept them both coming back. Hermione stepped out from behind Draco and walked towards it.  
>"Beautiful isn't it..." she muttered to herself, tracing her fingers along the handle.<br>"It's finished...nothing more to do to it." he snapped.  
>"You cracked it! You worked it out, Draco!" She turned to face him with awe. "Brilliant!"<p>

But Draco wasn't looking at it like it was beautiful. It wasn't a pretty reminder for him. It wasn't pretty at all. He looked at it like it was the most painful reminder possible.  
>"What is is, Draco? What's wrong?"<br>He turned away from the cabinet and walked deeper into the room through the make-shift corridors and round countless corners following only the light of the moon. Hermione dashed after him, barely keeping up with his long strides. The boy would never stop being a puzzle to her.

**A/N: Read and review? What do you think of it? Is Hermione's relationship with Draco too confusing? Is it just right? Are they in character enough? And what do people think I should do about next chapter, do you want Draco to re-consider then break the cabinet or to go ahead with it and leave Hermione behind or to change his mind right in the middle? I keep going between the different ideas with this one so let me know what you think.**


	12. Just the Start

**A/N: What was originally going to be one chapter has now become three, so let me know if I'm dragging this out too much. This chapter has a lot of flashbacks in it, and I was planning on having flashbacks in the next chapter too, skipping between Hermione & Draco's evening together and the mini battle when the death eaters break in, but you'll have to let me know if it makes enough sense to carry on with this kind of lay out. Oh, and the italics are flashbacks, normal is just…normal.**

July was beautiful, Hermione decided as she sat by the lake. The year's exams were over, the entire school was preparing for the end of the year, only a week away, and the summer was just beginning. The light reflected off the surface of the lake like a mirror occasionally broken by the gentle splashing of the Giant Squid. She sat in the shade of a willow tree with her books spread out around her. The year exams were over, yes, but the NEWT year wasn't far away and she wasn't about to let the war get in the way of her education. However, her education was the last thing on her mind that afternoon. It was no surprise that she hadn't managed to wake up in time to see the morning at all as she and Draco had stayed up until the early hours of the morning.

"_Check mate"  
>"What, again?"<br>"Yes, again. See, my Queen has your King cornered."  
>She hit him playfully across the arm "And you can stop looking so damn chuffed about it, too!"<br>Rolling over, clutching his arm in mock pain, he laughed. "Don't hurt me, oh no, someone help me, I've unleashed the monster that is Hermione-Gryffindork-Granger!"  
>"Shut up."<em>

_She swept the chess pieces and the broken chunks of stone into a box and slid it back onto the shelf. As she turned back she saw Draco hadn't moved from his position on the floor beneath his blanket summoned from the room. He lay on his side propped up on his elbow with his blanket folded down so it lay across his legs. He looked so much more peaceful than he had earlier; his body was nowhere near as stiff, his mouth turned up into a slight smile and his eyes lit up with the victory. She lay back in her spot on the floor and pulled her own blanket up around her shoulders._

_"Had enough of chess?" He raised an eyebrow.  
>"Yeah...how about exploding snap?"<em>

A slight breeze flipped the pages of her books scattered around her on the grass and she tried desperately to keep her pages and ended up messing the books up even more. Giving up, she closed the books one by one and placed them back in her bag that weighed heavily on her shoulder. Walking back to the castle, Hermione passed countless students enjoying the last of the day's sunshine before the evening, and curfew, set in.

"Hermione!"  
>The tapping of hurried footsteps came down the stairs and she turned to see Harry rushing towards her.<br>"Hermione," he repeated "I was just wondering could I-"  
>"Sorry, Harry. I really need to get back to the common room before dinner, can we talk later?"<br>"Sure..."

She didn't wait to listen to what he had to say, if he even said anything, before she briskly took to the stairs with an un-fightable grin on her face.  
>"Mimbulus Mimbletonia."<br>The portrait swung inwards and Hermione climbed through, practically skipping all the way up the stairs to her dormitory where she threw her bag down on top of her trunk and threw herself onto her bed.

"Well someone's feeling perky today." Even Lavender Brown's mindless chatter couldn't stop the floating feeling flooding through her.  
>"I'd say she got lucky."<br>"You reckon Granger got a kiss?"  
>"Or a date."<br>"Or a boyfriend."

"So go on, Granger, spill the beans." Parvatti perched on the edge of Hermione's bed, Lavender on the other.  
>"Oh, you know me; there are no beans to spill." She gave them an innocent and oblivious look. "There's nothing for me to tell."<p>

_"...and you should have seen McGonagall's face, priceless!"_

_The two teenagers fell into fits of laughter until tears clung to the corners of their eyes._

_"And then...and then," Draco fought to get his breath back. "And then Blaise turns around and says 'Cat got your tongue?'"_

_Hermione almost burst with laughter and curled up from lack of air. When she finally got her breath back she looked up at Draco, still sat opposite, smiling back down at her._

_'You look so beautiful when you smile.' The sentence was on the tip of her tongue and she opened her mouth to voice her spontaneous opinion before she stopped herself and snapped her mouth shut. Time seemed to stand still. It could have been hours - or mere seconds - as they sat and looked at each other. Only the chime of the clock hitting two a distant tapping disrupted their comfortable silence...a distant tapping as if something was tapping at a window..._

_"Is that an owl?" Hermione sat up as if to hear the noise better._

_"I think it is..." Draco stood up suddenly and started running through the make-shift corridors, Hermione not far behind him. Suddenly they came out at the far edge of the room to face a large window looking out across the castle grounds. It was a peaceful night and a large, almost full, moon lit up the night with an eerie white light._

_A dark, majestic looking, eagle owl was perched on the window ledge pecking at the glass_.

"You should come to the burrow over summer, I bet mum wouldn't mind, she never does."  
>"Great! I'll have to owl Uncle Dursley...or not...I might just send him a letter in the mail."<br>"Send him a what in the what?"  
>"It's how muggles send each other messages, seriously Ronald, do you not listen in Muggle Studies?" Hermione cut in on Ron and Harry's conversation.<p>

"Right..." Ron added before shoving a fork full of food in his mouth.

Dinner was in full swing and the beef stew that Ron was shoveling into his mouth smelt mouthwatering. However, gossip was starting to be fired around the great hall as people slowly came to the end of their meal. Thankfully, Hermione's good mood was outweighed by much more interesting stories.  
>"Did you hear about Bulstrode and Crabbe? Never thought that would work out."<br>"Seriously?...That's disgusting..."

Parvatti and Lavender had gained quite a crowd, which wouldn't have bothered Hermione if only they weren't sat right next to her.  
>"Malfoy and Zabini weren't seen going to bed last night, can't imagine what that could mean."<br>"They had detention with McGonagall." Hermione pointed out, inadvertently throwing all the attention onto her.

"What for? Were they caught together? How do you know?" Parvatti, ever the investigator, started firing the questions and soon most of the students close enough to hear on the Gryffindor table were watching her, hanging on every word she was about to say. Even some students from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were listening in.  
>Hermione shrugged, hating the sudden attention, "I don't know, I just overheard them talking about it."<br>"I heard Zabini turned her desk into a lion!" A fifth year Hufflepuff added.  
>"Really? Isn't that kind of transfiguration NEWT level?"<br>"He's actually really clever, for a Slytherin." Even the Ravenclaws were getting in on the conversation and it was starting to become too much for Hermione to cope with.

Turning back to the table she started to eat as quickly as she could without making herself ill, and tried to tune out the conversation going on all around her. Pudding had just appeared when her attention was snapped back to the people around her, a tutting from behind her made her jump and turn around.  
>"What have you been telling these poor people, Granger? Spreading rumours is rather Slytherin, don't you think?" Malfoy drawled, effortlessly silencing the students around them.<br>"I haven't been telling anyone anything, as a matter of fact. They've been making up the rumours themselves, I thought I'd leave them to it." Hermione looked up at the boy in front of her. "Let them make their own mistakes."  
>He stood tall and held the trade-mark Slytherin smirk on his face, but Hermione could see the false confidence behind his posture and his eyes looked dull and troubled. He could still play the crowd though, and he could do it well.<p>

_The parchment shook in Draco's hand as the owl flew away and he suddenly became drawn back. He shoved the small note into his pocket and sat down on the floor in front of the window. It really was a magnificent view, the window reached from the ceiling right down to the floor and covered most of the wall. Not wanting to move for fear of breaking the trembling balance, Hermione stood where she was, her blanket wrapped around her shoulders and watched the night sky. The stars sparkled against the pitch black sky and Hermione couldn't make out a single cloud. The lake below was as still as Hermione had ever seen it, like a black sheet of glass. It wasn't until they were at the window that she got a real sense of how high up they were. It didn't scare her, the castle looked beautiful from this far up, but after a while of standing so close she began to feel dizzy and decided to sit down._

_The floor here was cold and Hermione could see the goose-bumps on Draco's arms. Carefully, she slid her blanket over them both and rested her head against his shoulder. He didn't move but Hermione could feel him relax and wrap a protective arm around her._

"They're pretty massive mistakes to make. Transfiguring McGonagall's desk? Pah! No, we were caught playing dares with Theo, Pansy and Astoria, however _they_ managed to run quick enough. Me and Blaise were a little...busy." He winked and it looked like Lavender and Parvatti would explode. This wasn't how he'd explained it to her the night before, and suddenly she was thinking of the night, and he was stood right in front of her, in front of all these people, and her cheeks flooded with heat sending her face bright red. "I would hang around and tell you all what we were doing, but what happens in the dungeons stays in the dungeons." He took a final glance at Hermione before quickly looking away again. After a pause to let his words sink in he walked towards the door and disappeared out of sight.

"Dumbledore wants me to go to his office tonight...I think we'll be finding that horcrux I told you about." She heard the end of Harry's sentence.  
>"Sorry, what did you say?" She finally turned back to the table and to her friends.<br>"I'm going to see Dumbledore after dinner, I think it's about-"  
>"Oh, right, okay." Hermione smiled at him. "I see."<br>"I want you two to have the luck potion. I still have most of it left, and if anything goes wrong you might need it."  
>"But Harry! You'll be the one going to find a horcrux, it could be dangerous!"<br>"I'll be with Dumbledore, I'll be fine."

For the rest of the meal no more was said about the up-coming evening. Suddenly the candles didn't seem so bright and the laugher didn't seem so loud. Harry was going to find a horcrux.

_The sky was just starting to turn lighter. It wasn't black anymore, it was a deep purple that became lighter nearer the horizon.  
>"What are we?" Hermione hadn't meant to say it aloud, but once she had she was glad. As much as she loved sitting and watching the night sky turn into day, the question was weighing on her chest and making her anxious.<br>"What?" It wasn't often that Malfoy was confused, or if he was he didn't usually show it. However, as Hermione looked up at him looking down at her, his eyebrows were raised questioningly, he _was_ showing it.  
>"What are we?...to each other I mean." She felt sheepish, stupid for asking, and just hoped it wouldn't anger him.<em>

_He just laughed.  
>"Well, what am I to you?" he smiled, his first smile since the owl had taken off out the window.<br>"You're...you're a...a friend." she finally decided and he smiled again.  
>"Okay, then we're friends." He seemed almost disappointed but Hermione didn't push it any further. He pulled her closer and she leant her head against his chest, listening to his heart beat. "I can live with that."<em>

_His fingers tapped lightly on her waist and a small giggle escaped her mouth.  
>"Oh, you're ticklish are you?"<br>Hermione shook her head defiantly.  
>"Oh really? Really now?"<br>He reached round and started tickling her belly. Hermione held her breath. Slowly, he moved around so he was tickling the sensitive skin above her waist. Hermione twisted and turned to get away from him and lost the tight hold she had on her laughter._

_Soon, he was on top of her tickling her sides and her stomach and her back, and oh did she squirm. "Stop! Stop it!"  
>He stopped for a moment. "Or what?"<br>She took her moment of opportunity and lunged at him, completely reversing their positions and started tickling his neck down to his stomach. "Say sorry."  
>"What?" he gasped between breaths.<br>"Say." She tickled him some more. "You're." She took the second of opportunity and started tickling his stomach and his sides. "Sorry."_

_"Never."_

The common room was tense. The DA took up every available seating space, and some were sat on the floor. Ginny, however, was pacing. Hermione had considered pacing, but she couldn't find the energy. Instead, she found the most isolated corner of the room she could and pulled the map from her pocket. It was the only comfort she could find as they waited for Harry's return. As they were all waiting for the start of the war.

**A/N: Like the flashbacks? Think they'll work in the next chapter? Also, I'm wondering whether to put implied sex or no sex at all in the next chapter as part of the flashbacks to the evening before. I'm not putting an actual sex scene in there, partly because that would change the rating and mainly because I'm a virgin with no idea how to write a sex scene never mind a good one. Anyway, let me know what you think of it so far and hopefully I'll update again soon. I'm back at school tomorrow but hopefully this will be finished in the next two chapters and I'll probably get those done before things get too hectic.**


	13. The Final Decision

_**AN: Apologies, I can't remember the last time I even thought about this story, never mind wrote for it. I reached the beginning of the final chapter then completely lost motivation. I thought it was about time I forced myself to finish this thing, which will be pretty strange as it's taken at least half a year to get round to this chapter. (This is almost making me feel ashamed, so I think I'll stop trying to excuse myself.) Here you go, the final chapter, the final battle, and the final decision.**_

Draco's name seemed to sweep across the page, and Hermione closed her eyes for a moment picturing his purposeful strides through the silent hallways and secret passages floors beneath her. The common room had relaxed as the minutes passed, and then some more, and then some more. Harry wasn't coming back. Nobody was coming back. She looked up as a game of exploding snap had started up between Ginny and Dean. She didn't look so troubled anymore; Harry's predicament must have been forced to the back of her mind by the bright sparks and heated competition. Casting her eyes back to the parchment, it didn't take long for Hermione to realise Draco's name had vanished. It did that often, but something about the way he had disappeared so quickly made her feel uneasy. A knot formed in her stomach and she muttered as quickly as she could, "Mischief Managed."

It wasn't an easy job getting out of the common room. Firstly, there was the large number of people between her isolated corner and the portrait into the hallway. Secondly, her legs were shaking so nervously that it was a wonder Hermione could stand at all.

"_Feeling nervous?"  
>Hermione could feel Draco's warm breath on her cheek as he whispered to her. She hesitated a moment before shaking her head defiantly. She could almost see the challenging smirk on his face, and if it weren't for the blind fold covering her vision she'd have found she was completely right.<br>"We can always play something...safer. If you'd like, we could set up the chess again. Nice. And. Easy."  
>"Oh, shut up and spin me already!"<em>

_As soon as the words had left her lips she began to re-consider. Maybe chess would be more fun than blind man's bluff...especially as she was the one blinded. But it was too late. Before she knew it she was staggering around in the dark, reaching out her arms for the boy that she seeked. Her legs shook beneath her. Each step felt like she was getting closer to falling off an unseen edge._

Her legs shook. She continued to reassure herself that this evening was like any other. That there was no reason...surely...for this twisted feeling in her gut to be justified. The familiar friendly path she walked seemed strangely alien, and as she pushed the door open there was a strange feeling of powerful magic in the air that made the hair on Hermione's arms stand up on end, and had her hand reaching into her pocket in order to arm herself.  
>"Draco?"<p>

_His name hung in the air, and she called out again tempted to just rip the blindfold from her eyes and to stop this stupid game. "Draco?"  
>"Mhhm?"<br>The sound of him barely a few centimetres behind her sent Hermione spinning on the spot, and tripping on her own feet in a tangle of confusion. The world seemed to be spinning out of control, and for a moment she couldn't tell what was up and what was down. What was left and what was right. What was light and what was dark._

Edging further into the dimly lit room, she heard an inaudible muttering. Looking back, it was as if she wasn't in control of her own feet as she continued forward – one foot after the other, as if in a trance. She turned the corner, and her shoe crunched on miniscule shards of glass.

_Before her seemingly inevitable impact with the stone floor of the room of requirement, Hermione found herself enveloped by a solid pair of arms, and cradled to Draco's chest. It only took a few moments for her to regain her balance, but standing there in the dark in Draco's arms felt like the safest, warmest place she could be, and so she stayed exactly where she was. A few moments later she felt the cloth removed from over her eyes, and looked up blearily into the face of Draco Malfoy, who looked back down at her. His light grey eyes seemed to mesmerise her, and her grin mirrored his almost perfectly._

The entire room seemed to shine with an eerily shifting glow. The floor seemed to be alive and teeming with sparkling diamonds, which on closer inspection were specks of glass. As she made her way further and further into the room she became surrounded by the strange light that was reflecting randomly off of every surface. It was so dazzling she almost didn't see the darkness at the end of the path. She almost didn't see the bare frame that was once a beautiful cabinet that had gleamed like crystal. The frame was blackened; it seemed to be burnt to a crisp and amongst the burning embers, floating down from the ceiling like snowflakes painted pitch black, cowered the whimpering, muttering, scared little boy, whose hair gleamed like snow, and whose eyes were stormy like a troubled sea. And Hermione was rooted to the spot.

"What have I done?"

Even the sound of Draco's voice sounded alien to Hermione at that moment. It was weak. Broken. She'd never seen him like that, and began to doubt whether any of this was real – whether really she was still in the common room, in her quiet little corner, sleeping and unseen. He sounded too sorrowful, and Hermione felt a sudden urge to rush forward and hold him in her arms. But she was rooted to the spot, because he was different. She hadn't seen him so...dark. Dark was the only word she could use to describe him in that moment. Dark...and perhaps lost.

"I don't know, Draco. I-I don't know."

He looked straight at her with such an intense stare that Hermione felt like she ought to have burst into flames and scattered around the room like the cabinet he had presumably so perfectly destroyed. He stood up, but in all his anguish and confusion it did little to improve his image that had, in the past, always seemed untouchable.

"You should know, because it's your fault. It's because of you that this happened." He began to shout. He shouted as if he wanted his lungs to burst open too. "If it weren't for you it would have been easy! You always make things difficult, Granger, you always have and you always will!"

_Before she knew what was happening, his lips were crashing into hers, his arms almost crushing her to his body. She pulled him all the closer. And then as suddenly as it had begun, he stepped back. Not even the ghost of a grin remained on his face. "Why do you always make things so difficult, Granger?" He seemed more sad than angry at that question, and Hermione was speechless. How do you answer such a question?_

"Well, I'm sorry I've caused you such inconvenience. Perhaps I should leave you alone to rot under the rule of your precious Dark Lord!" Her voice rose almost as loud as his had and her clenched fists shook by her sides with anger at his accusation.  
>"But I can't." He replied, calmly and plainly, as if accepting some kind of defeat. "Not anymore."<p>

_**AN: And that's that, please R&R, and again I am so sorry this took so long. Whenever it came to mind I felt so guilty, but never motivated enough to do anything about it. There may be an epilogue, but after the trouble this chapter has caused me over the past few months – yes I left it a few months, don't make me feel any guiltier than I already am – I doubt I'll feel up to writing one.**_

_**Anyway, let me know what you think of it, and thanks for sticking with it...if any of you actually stuck around for the three or four months I abandoned you. If you did, thank you so much, and thank you for all your reviews right from the beginning, if it weren't for those I don't think I'd ever have gotten around to Chapter 13.**_


	14. Epilogue

**AN: I've gotten a few complaints about how confusing the final chapter was, and how it didn't really seem to end the story. I agree, I think I was a bit reluctant to give it a final end, so here's the epilogue which will hopefully clear up a few of the questions and give a proper final ending to it all. I purposely didn't include Ron in this chapter, I hope you don't mind. I just can't see how he'd deal with it, so let's presume Hermione tries to deal with him another day, when she isn't too busy with Draco in the Room of Requirement. Anyway, enjoy.**

"But, Harry!"  
>"Stop it, Hermione. I don't want to talk about this."<br>"Well, I do!"

Harry span round to face her, the anger and confusion showing on his face. "I was right, he was a Death Eater, and you know it."  
>Hermione winced at the memory of the defiantly black mark against the skin of Draco's arm as she had traced her fingers along it in his sleep. Even once he'd shown it to her properly, when awake he always kept his sleeve over it, or held his arm tightly against his side. He was ashamed.<p>

"Yes...yes, I know he was. But the whole point is now he isn't."  
>"What, so you find him in some room with a broken cabinet that he had apparently been working on – why you never mentioned that to me I can't figure it out, it was obviously a plot for Voldemort – but as you were saying, this cabinet was broken and burnt by some powerful magic that you assume was Draco. Why?"<br>"Why what?"  
>"Why do you think it was Malfoy?"<p>

This caused Hermione to falter for a second. She'd never imagined having to explain her trust in him. Draco told her it was so, and so that was that. It didn't matter that he hadn't told her earlier, he'd never lied about his loyalties either.  
>"Harry, he's defected. He went straight to Dumbledore after telling me."<br>"Pshhh, how long did this little tale of his go on for? Apparently you two were gone for hours. Where did you go anyway? Didn't Ginny try to find you when the Death Eaters tried slipping in through the front gate?"

Hermione felt warmth filling her cheeks, and down her neck. "She must have not looked hard enough. But that doesn't matter right now."

No way was she going to explain to Harry the happenings in the couple of hours following Draco's explanation. She wouldn't even tell him how she held him until the tears stopped flowing, never mind after that when they remained holding each other until they knew that they'd been gone too long to stay hidden anymore.

"What matters is that he couldn't do it, Harry. Do you not see how much he's sacrificed? His own parents are probably dead, because of him defecting like that. He can't have managed that pure amount of magical energy unless there was a very _very_ good reason for it."  
>"Oh really? And what reason would that be?"<p>

_And as Draco held her body close to his beneath the blanket, she heard him whisper. It was barely audible, but she heard it before drifting away to sleep.  
>"Hermione, I love you."<em>

"He must have just found his conscience. Whatever it is, be grateful – If it weren't for him defecting that night, Dumbledore would most likely be dead."  
>"If it weren't for him in the first place, Dumbledore wouldn't have been in danger of dying!"<br>"You ungrateful, little-"

"Granger!" Both Harry and Hermione snapped their heads round to the source of the voice. "Reckon you could keep it down? Some of us are trying to work in here." His trademark smirk was plastered on his face, and Hermione couldn't help but laugh as Draco's head disappeared back round the library doorway.

"You owe him one, Harry. Don't you forget it. He destroyed his own prospects and future that night, he destroyed his own family, and it was all so you could win this thing. You don't know how lucky you are to have him on your side."  
>Harry shook his head.<br>"He's not on my side; he's on your side, 'Mione. Anyone could see that."

"Mmm, so you sorted things out with Saint Potter?" Draco murmured after having kissed Hermione awake.  
>"You woke me up to talk about Harry?" Hermione groaned and rolled over onto her side so her and Malfoy were facing each other, barely inches apart. "But yes, I sorted things out with 'Saint Potter'. Just don't expect him to be very welcoming at first. He doesn't know you like I do." Hermione traced her hand along Draco's jaw line, and he practically hummed with pleasure.<br>"Nobody knows me like you do, Granger. Nobody."

Her hand almost instinctively went to stroke his arm, the Dark Mark on his skin still as clear as the day he was first recruited. It would never go away, but she could live with that if that meant living with Draco Malfoy.  
>"I know," she whispered back before glancing over his shoulder at the clock positioned just for such an occasion, "and I also know it's an hour before we've got to get out of this room and to Transfiguration."<p>

Draco raised an eyebrow and Hermione almost smirked as seductively as a Slytherin. It was enough for Draco. And Draco was enough for her.

**AN: Thoughts? I hope that was a better ending that made more sense to everyone. I think the last chapter was a little too open ended and unexplained, so let me know if this has answered all your questions. Again, thanks for reading and for getting this far, please let me know what you think in a review, I'm always grateful for criticism, and never one to turn down a compliment, so fire away. **


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